The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-08-05
WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT..

! WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT..
a PLAIN TALK TO GIRLS.
eons Advise Weeth l8esdins--A Proeeleal
Talk fron . Blg-Hsartsa Practical
woman.
They 60 to bed at night and fall into
. stupor, why noti Is there one breath
Of fresh air in their sleeping box? Do
they ever, except in the heat of sum-
mer, have 30 much as q crack Of the
window openP If there is . fireplace
In their room or q stove-pipe hole.
don't they close them up a. tightly as
they can? No wonder It IL SO hard to
wake up in the morning. l can hear
them groan and moan and yearn and
scold now. at the imperative summons
to get up. And what do they find ON
the breakfast tablet Sweet fried cakes,
something in the shape of meat, gen.
orally fried. potato either fried or
stcwed. hot coffee, and probably grid
die cakes" fried. of course. Now
am not going on crusade against the
frying-pan, for it has its uses; but
when l see a girl sit down at the break
fast table with dull eyes, sallow face,
a listless manner, and proceed to make
that early meal of strong coffee, sweet
ened cakes. fried pork and potatoes.
with sequence of griddle cakes liber-
ally buttered and drowned in molasses,
I feel like shutting her up for weeks
starvation on bread and water.
Then there is dinner; tough meat,
baked vegetables. pie. any kind of a
pie with crust either tough or sandy,
tasting strongly Of lard and filled with
the things most convenient. A favor
tie pie in our country homes is con-
structed of sliced lemon, flour and mo-
lasses, baked into mass as unfit for
the human stomach as q stewed rubber
overshOe.
Tea time brings cakes of various
sorts, probably more pie. cheese. fruit
preserved and SO ill-done it is fer
mented, or canned fruit, which is com:
paratively harmless, strong tea and
hot biscuit. Repasts fit for
"a cassowary,
On the plains of Timbuctoo::"
Then to begin the day again. After
breakfast they run upstairs. spread up
their bed with all the exhalations of
their bodies during the night still i'm
prisoned in it; they perhaps sweep the
floor and dust the furniture; then they
60 downstairs and sew a little, or prac-
tice half an hour. if they are SO I'M
fortunate as to own cheap piano or
parlor organ. 1t is possible that they
make some cake if it is needed; they
dawdle great deal, read little and
then it is dinner-time; and they sit
down to dinner as they did to break
fast. in an easy old gown. perhaps a
wrapper; their front hair wrung into
tight knots about crimping-pins. their
back hair in dusty knot.
Dinner over. they 60 up to their
rooms again to dress for the afternoon.
They lace up their corscts tighter, put
on boots with heels two inches high.
twist their hair into an unnatural fluff
which covers their forcheads and gives
them the aspect of Skye terrier, put
on a dress which is SO ''well fitting"
that they can not raise their arms to
their heads in it, and go out to walk
and see what they can see. After tea
another girl comes in and they giggle
and whisper together for while, and
then 60 out together, perhaps with a
young man, to some third-class show,
or to ball. or a drive. They have
latch-keys and come home when they
get ready, slip into their unaired beds
after hanging the dresses they have
worn eight or ten hours in that tight
shut closet, and repeat the experience
of the night before.
Now they have sown the seed.
"What will the harvest be?''
First-H it is winter. heavy cold;
the misused lungs forced to breathe
over and over again air that has no
vitality in it. air that is absolutely nox-
ious, become congested more or less,
and they begin to cough and sneeze.
If they have scrofula hidden in their |
constitutions-and how few people |
have not-the harvest of this plant |
ing will be bronchitis or consumption.
The next crop is dyspepsia; they |
put into that delicate organ, the |
human stomach, already Disguised by
the hard labor of its next neighbor,
the lungs, and weakened by the slow
of vitiated blood, vitiated |
by the bad air, mass of indigestiblc
stuff that they call food; at first they
do not notice any special effect, they
are young and strong and can bear a
good deal of physical misfortune
much trouble, but after
time food begins to distress them, life
gets very tiresome, they have acid
tastes in their mouths. heartburn,
flatulence. Yes, know these are I'M
pleasant things to talk of, but they are
D great deal more unpleasant to have.
Then they lose their rest. their ap-
petite, strength. courage, cheerful
ness.
This is bad crop; it realizes the
primcval curse. "Thorns and briers
shall it bring forth unto thee"
So they began to diet; but there is a
harvest from that corset that abro-
yates the good of diet.